Four people drown trying to cross Channel near Boulogne-sur-Mer
Deaths are first to happen since election of Keir Starmer, who has pledged to ‘stop the criminal gangs’
Four people have died overnight trying to cross the Channel, according to reports in French media.
A rescue operation took place off Boulogne-sur-Mer on France’s northern coast after reports of people in the sea trying to cross to Britain. Four of those pulled from the sea had drowned.
About 60 people were rescued in total from Thursday into Friday morning, according to the French newspaper La Voix du Nord.
A navy patrol boat went to the site after being alerted that several people had fallen into the sea while trying to cross the Channel, according to a briefing by maritime police to Agence France-Pressse news agency. Four of those winched out of the water by helicopter were dead.
The deaths are the first to happen since Keir Starmer took office. He has pledged to “stop the criminal gangs” but it is unlikely that any new policy can happen fast enough to make a dent in the peak in crossings through the summer months.
The last major incident was on 23 April, when five people died off the French coast trying to reach the UK.
The deaths take the total number killed on the perilous crossing from France to Britain this year to 19.
Home Office figures show 419 people made the journey across the Channel from France to the UK in six boats on Tuesday. The figures mean an average of about 70 people for each boat and take the provisional total for 2024 to date to 14,058, according to Press Association.
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